The railway has announced major investments – according to a recent survey, they are urgently needed.
Deutsche Bahn wants to renew 2,000 kilometers of tracks and 2,000 switches this year. “The investments by DB, the federal government and the states in rail infrastructure will total around 16.4 billion euros in 2024 alone,” said the federally owned company. The railway wants to ensure that the aging of the railway infrastructure is stopped.
The railway network is considered dilapidated and overloaded. In everyday operations, many disruptions on important routes and numerous construction sites have recently led to major problems with punctuality. The aging of the railway infrastructure is measured in the annual network status report. The current report (for 2022) puts the “age-based backlog” at 103.4 billion euros. The backlog demand for bridges is particularly large (59.9 billion euros). Whether aging can be stopped in 2024 will only be seen in the network status report after next.
Survey: Majority believes rail network is in need of renewal
The population is also critical of the condition of the railway infrastructure, as a current survey by Allensbach on behalf of the German Academy of Engineering Sciences (acatech) shows: 65 percent of those surveyed said that the rail network was in a very bad or rather bad condition. Only 12 percent called it rather good, less than 0.5 percent said it was in very good condition. As recently as 2015, the positive reviews predominated by 41 to 31 percent. The condition of the motorways, on the other hand, is currently rated positively by a clear majority, while the situation for the roads in the local area is slightly positive.
However, only 37 percent of those surveyed believe investing more money in rail than in roads is the right approach. 48 percent want equal treatment, 8 percent want more money for the roads.
The railway’s most important construction project this year will be the general renovation of the Riedbahn between Frankfurt and Mannheim. The route will be completely closed for five months. It is the first of 40 general renovations planned in the coming years.
Source: Stern
